of Teacherresource
By Robert Bradley Jr.
“Our love for Texas runs deep, but we are also concerned about the grid. It is time for an honest conversation about the state’s energy policy – one that recognizes the true costs and challenges of a blind renewable approach and seeks solutions that ensure the resilience of the grid and the well-being of people Texas. (Doug Sheridan, below)
Texas is turning to government-assisted natural gas to fix its broken political grid. Well, wind and solar are doing just that in one of the world’s natural gas meccas.
Doug Sheridan, a trusted voice on social media, posted this on LinkedIn:
It was big news last week that the Texas PUC received 125 applications for 56 GW of new gas-fired generation. The legislation behind the initiative — which provides $5B in state grants and loan guarantees for the plant — is intended to spur 10 GW of new gas-fired capacity at ERCOT.
We’ve seen comments about what “oversubscription” means, with many energy industry insiders citing it as a rebuttal to the accumulation of renewable energy on the nation’s increasingly shaky grid. We are not sure.
Subsidy funds for gas-fired power plants are far from a solution to the large and growing grid problem. More likely it’s a political fig leaf to cover up poor network management by state leaders—that is, a way to say, “Don’t blame us, we’re trying to fix it” if the system suffers a catastrophic failure because there’s no problem. renewable performance.
The fact is that many of the politicians of the same country who won this particular law have actually activated the situation in the box that is now being abused. We say probably because, clearly, there is no *mea culpa* here – from anyone. We don’t get it anymore.
We suspect that an analysis of political contributions from renewable energy interests to Texas politicians will show too many ways in which donations flow to the political class to hope they won’t ban more destructive renewable energy in the system. Again, we could be wrong about this, but we doubt it. In time, we hope to conduct such an analysis.
Leaders in Austin seem determined to tempt fate in other ways, too. As reported by David Blackmon, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is now referring to the “Texas Miracle”… possibly economic growth and prosperity. Be careful sir, there are too many problems lurking in the box of Texas to claim miracles at this point.
When it comes to 125 applications for new gas-fired capacity, many questions remain. Surely a more honest and thorough math should be done. Our understanding is that an honest analysis​​​​will show that Texas rates and taxpayers are now effectively funding the type of inefficient renewable backup generation capacity critics have been warning about for years.
The public’s lack of understanding of what Texas boxes are all about is also a concern. That’s because it limits the public’s ability to act as a real-time governor for politicians … and policymakers and moneyed interests. It is impossible to punish politicians at the polls before they destroy our grid, leaving only the regrettable option of punishing them after the fact.
Our love for Texas runs deep, but so does our concern for the box. It’s time for an honest conversation about state energy policy—one that acknowledges the true costs and challenges of a blindly renewable approach and seeks solutions that ensure grid resilience and the well-being of Texans.
A final comment
Hear, hear. The wind/solar/battery experiment in Texas has destroyed a reliable grid by replacing consumer-driven, taxpayer-neutral, economical, and reliable energy with inferior ones. And where does anyone calculate what the benefits of “climate change” are avoided? However, the Texas wilds are industrial, the not-so-green results that Big Green does not want to contemplate. Kudos to Doug Sheridans for speaking the truth to political power for such wind/solar/battery apologists such as Doug Lewin in the Texas electricity ‘market’.
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